Yesterday, in our Food & Drink section, we reported that Cold Crush, a hip-hop-oriented venue at 2700 Larimer that we named Best New Bar of 2013, had been closed as a public nuisance by Denver police following the fatal shooting this past weekend of 29-year-old Tyrone Adair Jr., better known to members of the local music community as rapper BossMan Goodie. The venue lost its liquor license as well.

In addition, our music section published an interview with Cold Crush co-owner Brian Mathenge, who stressed that he was serious about security at the club; he used two police officers and five security guards, and searches were conducted inside and outside. He also noted that other local clubs have experienced shootings in the past without being shut down.

Likewise, commentators online have suggested that race was a factor in the quick Cold Crush shutdown.

The death of Adair, the focus of a GoFundMe page that has raised nearly $7,000 toward a $10,000 goal at this writing, is certainly a high-profile tragedy.

But as Mathenge correctly points out, let-out violence has taken place in an assortment of locations in lower downtown and the immediate vicinity, as witnessed by our recent list of six LoDo-area crimes, including gunfire at what has been described as the worst let-out parking lot in the city; it left one person dead and another injured.

Cold Crush, though, has been singled out for ire by people in its neighborhood. In a February Reverb piece, Mathenge revealed that "residents of the original club’s RiNo neighborhood location have been circulating a petition asking to have the establishment regulated more strictly than other bars on Larimer’s 2700 block."

Inside Cold Crush circa June 2013.

Photo by Trevor Anderson

The community heat was still on in May, when Musa Bailey, another Cold Crush co-owner, posted this on Facebook:

Dear Cold Crush haters, save your time and energy and just stop. It's not gonna work. The town has already decided. You are in the minority. Stop fronting and do like the young homies say and get on the WAVE. It's too late for anything else. #ThreeYearsYaBish

Mathenge echoed this message with one of his own:

Let's put out a petition to get Cold Crush shut down.... Because it's crackin too hard, and black and white people hang out together over there. WE DON'T LIKE THAT

As of this writing, Mathenge has not yet been given a hearing date in regard to Cold Crush's closure.